Luke Holter:The Great Prison Break: Escaping the Bondage of Shame
Look to Jesus as Your Identity

I have been a Christian for over 25 years now, and in the last three years I have been examining the way I do everything pertaining to life and godliness. I am currently working on a new book about perspectives through the filter of the Holy Spirit, and it has rocked my world. The Lord has been taking me on a journey of perspective, and I believe it is so powerful for me on a personal level and others in the Body of Christ as well.

We grow up a certain way and, through the filter of life and upbringing, we have a certain perspective of ourselves and the world. The Lord wants to begin to give us new eyes to see things how He sees them. That includes how we see ourselves. In my opinion, one of the most revealing things about your personal theology on the Godhead is manifest on how you view yourself.

Recently while I was studying and meditating, I was reading the story in Luke 19 about Zacchaeus the tax collector and really searching myself for where I can relate to Zacchaeus in this story. I was asking the Holy Spirit, How am I like Zacchaeus? All at once, the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me in this very public place I was in. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “Stop looking for your reflection in the lost, and instead—look for your likeness in Jesus, so you can reach the lost.” I thought, Whoa! How much of my life have I done this?

The Holy Spirit spoke to me again and said, “So many Christians live a shame-based life with Me because they view themselves as the sinner and never like Jesus. They assume that the Lord always looks upon them as the lost and never the saved. Rather than looking for how you are like those lost that Jesus is ministering to, look to Jesus as your identity.”

An Invisible Prison

The Word tells us that people who become isolated and hidden, seek their own desire and they rage against wise and sound judgment—which will cause them to struggle with dark things (see Proverbs 18:1-3). It is true that when individuals become isolated, darkness becomes a much more vicious animal.

Imagine that when you are hidden in sinful behaviors that you get a large sliver in your hand, and when you become hidden and isolated, that sliver just goes deeper and becomes more infected. This is how darkness works and is the end goal of the enemy. The enemy desires for us to become completely bound and hidden in our sinful lifestyle, because it estranges us from society, from reason, from God, and from breakthrough.

Part of the reason that being separated is such a strong fear for us, is that it makes us feel vulnerable or helpless to the whims of another. It means that the world around you can invade you at a moment’s notice and leave you with no ability to react. Being separate is more like an act that is done to you rather than something that you make a conscious effort to partake in. This reality is what makes this feel so uncontrolled and fearful.

Many emotions can follow someone who is struggling with separateness, and they can be varied in intensity from individual to individual. One of the most common feelings associated with separateness is shame. Shame is an invisible prison that can keep us bound for as long as our eyes are blind to its door and frame.

Shame is something that God never meant for us to feel but through fallen nature we are at some point destined to face. Shame is an ugly beast, and it is only through the truth of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit that we can stand against such spiritual and emotional villainy.

Hiding in Sin

A good look at the effects of shame can be seen in the story of Adam and Eve. In Genesis, they both eat of the tree of good and evil and they both have their eyes opened. They all of a sudden understand what they have done and they have full revelation on their current condition.

As soon as they hear God walking in the garden, they become afraid and attempt to hide from God. It is worth saying this now, that when we hide in our sin it simply begets more sin. We never become healed and well through hiding our true selves from God. It is only though letting God love us in our sin that we get victory in that area of our lives.

So, Adam and Eve are hiding in the garden and they, for the first time, feel shame. The unfortunate thing of living in a world that is fallen is the fact that when Adam did this it shot straight down our family line. See, we are constantly fighting against the bloodguilt of Adam through the redemptive Blood of Christ.

Just as death came through one man for all, now through one Man we have eternal life. Our spirits are seated with Christ Jesus in heavenly places; however our souls are being transformed on a daily basis. This means that we will wrestle with the fallen nature in our mind, will, and emotions until we are made perfect at Christ’s return.

Shame vs. Conviction

Shame is not the same thing as conviction. When looking at whatever circumstances you are going through, it is always good to look at the fruit of it. For instance, if you are feeling conviction from the Holy Spirit, then if you respond with obedience and change the way you think and turn from your behavior, then you will experience freedom and power.

However, if you are apologizing out of a religious obligation due to your understanding that what you have done is wrong, then the fruit will be shame, self-condemnation, and self-inflicted punishment. When we feel shame we feel defeated, and when we feel convicted we feel strength to overcome.

Man was made to dwell in community with other men, and this is a Biblical, biological, and scientific fact. We were made for communion with God and other human beings, as well as for communion with all of creation. To be aware of your own separation from God and others without the hope of reconciliation and communion through love is the source of all shame. We are all in a battle, and all of mankind is in a constant struggle to overcome our separation from the object of our affection and desire.

We are in a great prison break to escape the bondage of separation and shame.

Luke Holter
Prophetic Sheep Ministries
Email: propheticsheep@yahoo.com

I wanted to post today to let you know how the Lord has been dealing with me. The past 3-4 months or so have been about staying focused. There are so many things in this world that pull our attention to the left and right and everywhere else, and being the human that I am, my attention does wander, which requires daily refocus.

Our walk with the Lord truly is a daily thing. The enemy is constantly trying to derail our walk with the Lord and he is subtle about it. He hides his attacks in subtle things, in subtle thoughts that he fires into our heads. Recently a couple of reminders of past sin popped into my head and the Lord immediately popped in after each one saying “that was an attack.”

Had I not heard that I would have been left to ponder the error of my previous ways. The Lord tells us in Psalm 103 though that our sins have been removed from us as far as the east is from the west, so we can move on. Today is not yesterday. Tomorrow is not today. Each day is a fresh start. Each day is a day to evaluate where we stand and refocus if we have been distracted.

This life can be a battle at times, and the bulk of the fighting is done between our two ears. War requires us to think like soldiers, endure hardship, be courageous and most of all be patient. We are at war, that’s for sure. We must decide for ourselves what we believe, what’s most important to us and when we get distracted or pulled off course we need to readjust and head back in the direction we know we should be going.

This life appears to be a serious of peaks and valleys, like a sine wave. We seem to learn a heck of alot more at the bottom of these cycles then we do at the top. Again, this requires the attitude and thinking of soldiers. We are soldiers but we do not war as this world does with carnal weapons.

2 Cor 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

The Lord has used the past months to teach me, to get me to correct my ways before him, rather to “perfect” my way before him. Knowing myself like I do, this will certainly be a lifelong work .

The Lord has adjusted my focus from the apostasy of the church, the “end is near” to perfecting my way before him. I am amazed and very thankful at how patient he has been with me. What a wonderful God we serve. He can be a gentle taskmaster if we will remain broken and humble before him.

This perfecting of his people could be the Lord’s last act of grace to his people before he shows up for us. At this point I have no earthly idea how long it will be for the Lord’s return. He has shown me clearly now how long he can drag out events that seem to be teetering on the brink of collapse, to make them last however long he wants them to. Again, this is another proof to me that our God is in absolute control of everything. He determines the times and seasons of events, not the illuminati, not the president of the US, not the bilderburger groups, not the satanists, not Isreal/the Jews/the Zionists etc etc etc. OUR GOD ALONE determines the timing of things.

We must be ready for him to return today. We must also be prepared to wait to live out our entire lifetime and still not see his coming. Let us be patient then, maintaining the true faith that we ourselves read in the bible. Lets be responsible for correctly handling the word of truth and cease endless debating that leads men nowhere. Let us perfect our way before our God because he is WORTHY of our BEST and he loves us.

The last thing I have for you today is this: our God hears and answers prayers. That’s a fact. He does not answer in your time, he answers in his time so be patient, but expect answers. Believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer and they shall be yours:

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

These are the things that have been on my mind for months now. I will try to post more often. We are dearly loved children, remain “in Christ,” keep the faith, be patient, adopt the attitude of soldiers who are not of this world.

May the Lord bless you and keep you and prosper you even as your soul prospers. Grace and peace.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. Everything was in order and the Pastor was preparing to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

“There’s one more thing,” she said excitedly.

“What’s that?” came the Pastor’s reply.

“This is very important,” the young woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”

The Pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing quite what to say.

That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the young woman asked.

“Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,” said the Pastor.

The young woman explained. “My grandmother once told me this story, and from that time on I have always tried to pass along its message to those I love and those who are in need of encouragement. In all my years of attending socials and dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming…..like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!’

So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder “What’s with the fork?” Then I want you to tell them: “Keep your fork, the best is yet to come.”

The Pastor’s eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death.. But he also knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge.. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the young woman’s casket and they saw the cloak she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the Pastor heard the question, “What’s with the fork?” And over and over he smiled.

During his message, the Pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the young woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. He told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.

He was right.. So the next time you reach down for your fork let it remind you, ever so gently, that the best is yet to come.